


This One is Ours

by entanglednow



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-01
Updated: 2011-05-01
Packaged: 2017-10-20 21:26:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/217247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/entanglednow/pseuds/entanglednow





	This One is Ours

Dean doesn't know what possesses him to do it. He just sees the sign and thinks 'to hell with it' because they have money in their wallets, for a change, and nothing to do all day. Tomorrow, tomorrow they could be having their faces eaten off, or dying in some horrible, gruesome way.

Today, today they're going to the goddamn zoo.

He's fully prepared to call Sam a bitch if he so much as notices.

Sam very carefully pretends not to notice anything while they walk through the gates, or when Dean pays, or when they start ambling in the direction of animal smells and small, excited children.

He stops to read a sign. Dean only catches the edge of a Latin name, and a picture of something furry around Sam's stupid hair.

It's Cas who comments first.

"This seems like a difficult place to hunt." Dean gets the feeling he's already casing out all the exits.

"We're not on a hunt. We're just here to -"

"Look at the animals," Sam says, when Dean's pause goes on too long. He seems to realise that sounded awkward, and only serves to deepen Castiel's confusion. "I can't remember the last time we were in a zoo."

Dean grunts. "I do, you sulked for days, until dad agreed to take you, and then you spent the whole time gawping at the penguins."

"I'd never seen a penguin before," Sam says, hands stuffed in his pockets. Dean can almost see the kid he'd been, all squeaky voice and ridiculous hair, trying to see over the railings in Dean's old boots.

There's a girl, no more than five or six, having some sort of hysterical fit of joy somewhere near the elephants. Her mother's holding her shoulder like she's half afraid her daughter will be swept off by an errant trunk. The girl doesn't seem to mind, hands waving over her head. Castiel seems fascinated.

Dean buys ice cream on a whim, handing them out to a suspicious Sam, and a surprised angel. Castiel stares at him, as if to work out if it's important or not. Sam smiles like Dean's just discovered the meaning of Christmas and starts eating his own with an embarrassing lack of self-restraint. Dean's horribly tempted to shove his face in it.

Castiel's watching a slow dribble of melted ice cream work it's way across his fingers.

Dean knocks him with his elbow.

"Dude, eat it before it melts."

The expression he gets in return is a little over-the-top for the imminent melting of his delicious snack. But Dean's been used to Castiel's weird over-reactions to things for a couple of years now. But the angel obediently stops the line of ice cream in its tracks. Dean forces himself to go back to his own ice cream rather than watch.

"So, is there any reason we're revisiting our childhood today?" Sam says cautiously. They've stopped over the bear pit and there's a big mass of brown fur somewhere below Dean doing not much at all. He vaguely remembers that being a downside to zoos. He wonders where the lions are. Lions are awesome.

Dean shrugs, in answer to Sam's question.

"I mean, I'm not complaining, but I wouldn't have thought you were a zoo person. Unless you were bringing a date, someone who likes animals."

"We brought a date."

Sam looks at Castiel over Dean's shoulder. The angel's frowning at his tie, and the streak of ice cream that's now marking it. He glances up, and fixes Dean with a frown, like he's not entirely sure it isn't his fault.

"We?"

"Alright, I did," Dean says tightly.

Sam chokes on his ice cream. Then clearly needs a minute to let that sink in. Because, ok, fine, it's probably a lot to sink in.

"Really?"

"Maybe?" Dean mumbles, then shrugs, and wonders which of them, exactly, is reliving their awkward teenage years.

"Dean -"

"We don't need to discuss this like girls, Sam," Dean says firmly.

There's a long, tense pause. When Dean has the suspicious feeling that Sam's admiring his personal growth. He may have to push him into the bear pit.

"Can we see the penguins?" Sam asks.

"What is it with you and the damn penguins? Fine, lead the way, you big kid."

Dean stop just long enough to catch Castiel's elbow, and tug him in the direction of the penguin-whisperer.


End file.
